The anti-atherosclerotic effect and mechanism study of berberine in hyperlipidemic ApoE-/- mice / 药学学报

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this research is to study the anti-atherosclerotic effects and mechanisms of berberine (BBR) in high fat diet (HFD) fed ApoE-/- mice, and then to lay a solid foundation of the clinical studies of BBR treatment. The hyperlipidemic ApoE-/- mice model was established by feeding HFD for 12 weeks. Mice were randomly divided into control group (chow diet), model group, BBR group (BBR-L: 50 mg·kg-1, BBR-H: 150 mg·kg-1) and atorvastatin (5 mg·kg-1) group. Mice were intragastric administration with BBR in 0.5% sodium salt of caboxy methyl cellulose. After 12 weeks, enface aortas were stained with oil red O, and the lesions area were analyzed by Image J software. The inflammatory factor levels were detected by suspension microarray kits. Liver total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG) and free fatty acids (FFA) were determined by commercial kits. Western blot was performed to examine the inflammatory pathway related and cholesterol and lipid transport related proteins' expression. All animal experiments were performed in accordance with the Regulation on the Administration of Laboratory Animals of Institute of Medicinal Biotechnology. After 12 weeks treatment, compared with model group, BBR treatment significantly reduced the lesions area of en face aortas and obviously inhibited serum proinflammatory factors such as IL-1β and IL-6 compared with model group. In addition, BBR treatment obviously reduced liver TC, TG and FFA levels compared with model group. Furthermore, mechanic study showed that BBR significantly inhibited MAPKs and NF-κB pathways, and increased cholesterol and lipid regulated proteins expression such as p-AMPK, LDLR, ABCA1 and SR-BI. In conclusion, BBR can obviously reduce enface aortas lesions in ApoE-/- mice, which is related to inhibit inflammation and liver cholesterol and lipid accumulation.